I used the MStereoscope and noticed that the Width meter is too high in my mixes. From what
I could understand from the manual this will cause problems when the mix is played through mono
speakers.
This confuses me, since when I played back one of my mixes in a proffesional studio I was told that
the mix is not wide enough, it was a bit to molded together in the middle I was told. But from the MStereoscope
width meter I'm getting red indicators which tells me the mix is far too wide.
This is the mix btw:
https://soundcloud.com/michael-keihl/entering-todash
From the MStereoscope manual: "Width Meter, above 100 %
In this case you should consider rotating the phase of the left or right channels or lowering the side signal,
otherwise the audio will be highly mono-incompatible and can cause fatigue even when played back in stereo."
My dumb question for the day is how do you rotate the phase of the left or right channel and how do you lower
the side signal? Do they just mean that you should pan less? I have another project where I have not panned AT ALL and it is still giving me the indication that there is too much width in the mix.
Any info to clear up my confusion about this would be highly appreciated.
- Michael
Panning is not the same as stereo width. The "width indicator" is a phase meter, or as Brainworx calls it, correlation meter (theory of relativity,lol, just kidding). The theory is basically circles and sine waves (same thing), I'm not a mathematician, but panning is like 1 position on 1 circle, left or right channel, and because there are 2 circles, the width is the phase measurement between the 2 circles, now I think we're getting into astronomy, like planets in a solar system and what phase the moon is in,lol!
When Jupiter lines with Mars,lol, things are in-phase.
Michael, I actually use the Brainworx bx_control V2, I attached a picture. Melda uses M/S also. The easiest way to explain it is to use the Brainworx for the example. Rotate phase is the same thing as inverting the phase 180 degrees btw, a mixer channel has a button somewhere.
M/S is what is called mid-side, or mono (mid), sides (left-right). The V2 has 5 white knobs on the right, labeled 1) balance, self explanatory left and right 2) Pan M or mid-mono 3) Pan S, pan sides l and r 4) Mono-maker with frequency @ the bottom, this increases the frequency threshold of the signal that will be routed to mid-mono. If you turn it all the way up for example, theoretically it should send everything to the middle and not any to the sides. 5) Stereo Width, self explanatory
There are also 2 meters in the bottom right hand corner 1) Stereo Balance, self explanatory 2)Correlation or phase, if it goes into the red, it means the left and right signals are having phase issues, or getting closer to 180 degrees causing cancellation, that's what Melda meant by switching the phase of one of the sides or inverting the phase, meaning the closer the sides are in phase they won't start cancelling, actually start reinforcing or making the combining signals louder. (combine 2 in-phase signals and it increases loudness, 2 inverted phase signals cancel each other. Signals theoretically must be exact for the full effect in either scenario to occur. [that's where you get the -3db pan law, if it is set in your daw, will compensate for the increased loudness of an in-phase panned signal, when you use the pan knob]
The main thing to remember in these M/S plugins is that mid(center) and mono are used interchangeably, and so is sides and left and right.
Bass and lead vocal are generally panned to the middle, mid. Because bass is considered non-directional, and main vocals for the center focus. However you can spread some of the bass or main vocal to the sides. For example, if you have an M/S EQ, more familiar with the Melda here,lol, you can move say the harmonics or higher frequency bands of the bass to the sides, which is sort of what the Brainworx does with the 'mono-maker'. So if some freqs of the bass are interfering with the kick or guitar, choose a crossover point and spread them to the sides. Same with the main vocal, if you have a vocal that is harsh in the mid frequencies, maybe "pushing" those frequencies out to the side.
So probably nowadays, mono-compatiblity isn't as important as phase cancellation is?? Mono is mainly a quick reference for how much signal you are losing and/or re-inforcing. A way to hear what the correlation meter is showing you.
